Repost of an incredible Experience!

Julia Landis...Musician...Healer....Yoga Master...
and now....Nichiren Buddhist!!!
What follows is Julia's experience, written by her. I'll throw in a few annotations as well. Just let me say to begin, that Julia was a special radiant and wonderful friend from the moment we met many years ago. Her Yoga classes transported me. No other teacher compares. Since she is already so incredibly spiritual, once she decided to embrace this practice she "GOT" it in a way that is always teaching me...and we have been growing and evolving and creating our wonderful lives ever since! I learn so much from her!

Kelly's Island Ohio...where this story takes place..

Dear readers (from Julia),

some of you may have read Jamie's post about me last summer. After 13 years of contemplating chanting NMHRK I finally took the big plunge last fall after I realized I had nothing left to lose. After visiting with Jamie on Kelley's Island in Ohio and seeing the transformation of her relationship with her husband and experiencing their warm friendship in the midst of their impending separation I was truly amazed. There was simply an ease and happiness I could feel in being with them, which was a relief to me for many reasons, but most acutely, because I was really suffering: I was experiencing severe challenges to my health, far worse than anything I could have imagined. I had MRSA type wounds on my foot that refused to heal. It was a nightmare in the humid midwestern summer to try and enjoy being a tourist while the band-aids and ointment repeatedly slid off and I was left in searing pain and fear of further infection. I also had developed chronic giardiasis and related intestinal syndromes. Let's say I was not a "happy camper." Please scroll down...

I remember not talking with Julia much about chanting at the beginning of the visit. I let my life speak for me. Julia could see the physical transformation I'd had since I last saw her ...with the loss of 70 pounds and the new outlook on life...I look much younger. Outside at the lake I remember telling her something about my relationship with Paul, and she said "I want to try it."

I asked Jamie if she would chant with me one afternoon while we were alone at a picnic area overlooking Lake Eerie. I was so weak I asked if I could chant lying down on the picnic table. Jamie gently recommended that I at least try sitting up, to feel the energy in my body... 

Although my husband was opposed to the practice--and had been for over a decade-- I was determined this time not to let anything stand in my way. I'll never forget the first time I chanted with Jamie for more than a few minutes, staring out at the calm surface of Lake Eerie-- my first Gohonzon!--from beneath a picnic shelter accompanied by the chatter of newly hatched swallows nesting above us. I was blown away, so to speak, when Jamie's son Ben, a top athelete, stood behind us and joined us in chanting. I got the goose bumps as I felt the generations of Buddhas voices like a soft wind under my broken wings, lifting me towards the light.

 Here are the birds Julia's talking about

After I returned home, many obstacles arose to my practicing, but I let nothing stop me. At first I only chanted a couple of minutes a day and got out of breath and hoarse. (Julia was incredibly weak and sick when she started chanting - her transformation has been amazing) I created an altar and began to thirst for the experience of chanting. Jamie expressed so much support, making herself available in ways no other friend or helper would ever have been able to... I now realize that she was excited for me and knew about the benefits that lay in store for me. I read the copy of "On Attaining Buddhahood in this Lifetime" she had given me as a gift and began to hear Daisaku Ikeda's loving and powerful words reverberating in me when I chanted. I believe at this point I began to connect with the spirit of Nichiren Daishonin, the Buddha of our age who first chanted Nam Myoho Renge kyo and unlocked the mysteries of the Lotus sutra for all of us living in this age. Nichiren wrote... "With this teaching  all the teachings advocated by [earlier Buddhist teachers] will be like stars after sunrise..." I began to feel joy in my chanting and worked my way up to chanting an hour a day. At this point I discovered (through amazing synchronicities involving my husband and public radio) the herbs I needed to treat the MRSA. It took months and several approaches, but by now you've guessed it: the wounds have closed and are healing

nicely. 

With each passing week the benefits mounted. A doctor who'd been treating me in a half hearted always busy way began to take a real interest in me and began really helping me. Through his increased vigillance I was able to get an MRI which has led me, again through synchronicities to the most wonderful physical therpist I could have ever imagined. I am getting full physical healing including pilates and cranio-sacral therapy now and... it's all covered by my insurance. I also have begun receiving lucid dreams guiding me further along in my healing and I began my own blog about my experience. As Jamie has put it, I've gone from an experience of dying to an experience of really LIVING. Of feeling alive and cherishing each moment of my life, no matter what it brings.

It has been so exciting to share each benefit and each new challenge with Jamie, knowing that she fully understands both the nature of suffering and the emergence of strength and capacity that come with this practice and can stand beside me in either kind of state. With her encouragement, I was able to overcome many obstacles and learn to chant Gongyo; this year on New Year's day I received my Gohonzon, the mandala Nichiren Daishonin personally inscribed for his disciples (us!) some seven hundered years ago.

Having practiced many forms of meditation and yoga over the past twenty years, I was amazed to experience the blessing of chanting NMHRK with my eyes open and fixed on the character which means "MYO" on the Gohonzon. Minutes slip away in states of happiness, peace, transcendance that are worthy of MYO's immeasurable meanings chiefly characterized by the simple definitions, "to open" to "rejuvenate" and "fully endow."

I made a determination, on the eve of receiving my Gohonzon that each time I would look upon it I would be filled with reverence for it and for my life, of which it is a mirror. And I am. I can never adequately thank Jamie for sticking with me for the 12 or so years it took me to "open" up my life to my full potential and cultivate the capacity and the bravery to live fully and embrace my innate Buddhahood. I am learning the exquisite feeling of deep worthiness, worthiness of love, healing and real joy. I am beginning to praise my life.

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo!

Julia has changed in so many ways since she began chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. Her voice...her health...her bright eyes...and most of all...Julia knows...beyond a shadow of a doubt...that she can accomplish every happiness she desires. She knows with a knowing that is beyond intellectual, that the ONLY way to accomplish her desires is to wholeheartedly EMBRACE them!  She knows YOU MUST chant for what your heart desires...you Can't tamp it down. And you will either get what you are chanting for...or something better...or your desires will change and so will your suffering. She is a living Buddha...inspiring people with her incredible life! We've only just begun! So much more to create...chant for...embrace...appreciate!!! She knows she has found the key to every happiness...and what could be better than that!!!! I love you Julia! I love you readers! May each of you be soooo inspired by beautiful Julia!!!!

Repost of an incredible Experience!

Julia Landis...Musician...Healer....Yoga Master...
and now....Nichiren Buddhist!!!
What follows is Julia's experience, written by her. I'll throw in a few annotations as well. Just let me say to begin, that Julia was a special radiant and wonderful friend from the moment we met many years ago. Her Yoga classes transported me. No other teacher compares. Since she is already so incredibly spiritual, once she decided to embrace this practice she "GOT" it in a way that is always teaching me...and we have been growing and evolving and creating our wonderful lives ever since! I learn so much from her!

Kelly's Island Ohio...where this story takes place..

Dear readers (from Julia),

some of you may have read Jamie's post about me last summer. After 13 years of contemplating chanting NMHRK I finally took the big plunge last fall after I realized I had nothing left to lose. After visiting with Jamie on Kelley's Island in Ohio and seeing the transformation of her relationship with her husband and experiencing their warm friendship in the midst of their impending separation I was truly amazed. There was simply an ease and happiness I could feel in being with them, which was a relief to me for many reasons, but most acutely, because I was really suffering: I was experiencing severe challenges to my health, far worse than anything I could have imagined. I had MRSA type wounds on my foot that refused to heal. It was a nightmare in the humid midwestern summer to try and enjoy being a tourist while the band-aids and ointment repeatedly slid off and I was left in searing pain and fear of further infection. I also had developed chronic giardiasis and related intestinal syndromes. Let's say I was not a "happy camper." Please scroll down...

I remember not talking with Julia much about chanting at the beginning of the visit. I let my life speak for me. Julia could see the physical transformation I'd had since I last saw her ...with the loss of 70 pounds and the new outlook on life...I look much younger. Outside at the lake I remember telling her something about my relationship with Paul, and she said "I want to try it."

I asked Jamie if she would chant with me one afternoon while we were alone at a picnic area overlooking Lake Eerie. I was so weak I asked if I could chant lying down on the picnic table. Jamie gently recommended that I at least try sitting up, to feel the energy in my body... 

Although my husband was opposed to the practice--and had been for over a decade-- I was determined this time not to let anything stand in my way. I'll never forget the first time I chanted with Jamie for more than a few minutes, staring out at the calm surface of Lake Eerie-- my first Gohonzon!--from beneath a picnic shelter accompanied by the chatter of newly hatched swallows nesting above us. I was blown away, so to speak, when Jamie's son Ben, a top athelete, stood behind us and joined us in chanting. I got the goose bumps as I felt the generations of Buddhas voices like a soft wind under my broken wings, lifting me towards the light.

 Here are the birds Julia's talking about

After I returned home, many obstacles arose to my practicing, but I let nothing stop me. At first I only chanted a couple of minutes a day and got out of breath and hoarse. (Julia was incredibly weak and sick when she started chanting - her transformation has been amazing) I created an altar and began to thirst for the experience of chanting. Jamie expressed so much support, making herself available in ways no other friend or helper would ever have been able to... I now realize that she was excited for me and knew about the benefits that lay in store for me. I read the copy of "On Attaining Buddhahood in this Lifetime" she had given me as a gift and began to hear Daisaku Ikeda's loving and powerful words reverberating in me when I chanted. I believe at this point I began to connect with the spirit of Nichiren Daishonin, the Buddha of our age who first chanted Nam Myoho Renge kyo and unlocked the mysteries of the Lotus sutra for all of us living in this age. Nichiren wrote... "With this teaching  all the teachings advocated by [earlier Buddhist teachers] will be like stars after sunrise..." I began to feel joy in my chanting and worked my way up to chanting an hour a day. At this point I discovered (through amazing synchronicities involving my husband and public radio) the herbs I needed to treat the MRSA. It took months and several approaches, but by now you've guessed it: the wounds have closed and are healing

nicely. 

With each passing week the benefits mounted. A doctor who'd been treating me in a half hearted always busy way began to take a real interest in me and began really helping me. Through his increased vigillance I was able to get an MRI which has led me, again through synchronicities to the most wonderful physical therpist I could have ever imagined. I am getting full physical healing including pilates and cranio-sacral therapy now and... it's all covered by my insurance. I also have begun receiving lucid dreams guiding me further along in my healing and I began my own blog about my experience. As Jamie has put it, I've gone from an experience of dying to an experience of really LIVING. Of feeling alive and cherishing each moment of my life, no matter what it brings.

It has been so exciting to share each benefit and each new challenge with Jamie, knowing that she fully understands both the nature of suffering and the emergence of strength and capacity that come with this practice and can stand beside me in either kind of state. With her encouragement, I was able to overcome many obstacles and learn to chant Gongyo; this year on New Year's day I received my Gohonzon, the mandala Nichiren Daishonin personally inscribed for his disciples (us!) some seven hundered years ago.

Having practiced many forms of meditation and yoga over the past twenty years, I was amazed to experience the blessing of chanting NMHRK with my eyes open and fixed on the character which means "MYO" on the Gohonzon. Minutes slip away in states of happiness, peace, transcendance that are worthy of MYO's immeasurable meanings chiefly characterized by the simple definitions, "to open" to "rejuvenate" and "fully endow."

I made a determination, on the eve of receiving my Gohonzon that each time I would look upon it I would be filled with reverence for it and for my life, of which it is a mirror. And I am. I can never adequately thank Jamie for sticking with me for the 12 or so years it took me to "open" up my life to my full potential and cultivate the capacity and the bravery to live fully and embrace my innate Buddhahood. I am learning the exquisite feeling of deep worthiness, worthiness of love, healing and real joy. I am beginning to praise my life.

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo!

Julia has changed in so many ways since she began chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. Her voice...her health...her bright eyes...and most of all...Julia knows...beyond a shadow of a doubt...that she can accomplish every happiness she desires. She knows with a knowing that is beyond intellectual, that the ONLY way to accomplish her desires is to wholeheartedly EMBRACE them!  She knows YOU MUST chant for what your heart desires...you Can't tamp it down. And you will either get what you are chanting for...or something better...or your desires will change and so will your suffering. She is a living Buddha...inspiring people with her incredible life! We've only just begun! So much more to create...chant for...embrace...appreciate!!! She knows she has found the key to every happiness...and what could be better than that!!!! I love you Julia! I love you readers! May each of you be soooo inspired by beautiful Julia!!!!

You can Chant for Anything! Here's a Benefit!

Experience from a reader: 

"I just wanted to let you know I did put Gohonzon in my house on 18 july and I continue to chant twice a day on your blog so basically I feel I'm chanting with you every day. My son and my husband chant with me at night before we sleep. I see little change in my son he is calmer than before and will keep you posted always about my life. I read all your blogs I think you write beautifully and forward it to the other people too. My son had made a drastic mistake in summer he forgot the date of project for his on line class and did not submit the project and the project was due on 3 august and he mistook it for 23. He realized that after 5 days when teacher put missed project on line. The teacher had said clearly he would give some marks if it's delayed for 4 days but after that it will be a 0 and realized after 5 days so was crying that his grade will be really bad even if he got 95 or 100 in the three left quizzes. I  went and started chanting  in front of my gohnzon and said please give him some marks and not a 0 and teacher replied back saying he could maximum get 40 if he still did project then he did the project same day and sent it to him and got A's in the rest of 3 quizzes . He got 40 in the project and ended up with a B+ which is better than a C or a B- which he may have ended up for his carelessness and learnt a big lesson of his life since he has two more on line classes this semester. I just wanted to share this small experience with you.

I really want my kids to turn up like your kids you are my inspiration.

Thanks,"

How wonderful! Your whole family is chanting!!! And what a great benefit. You really turned that situation around! You will all be seeing so many benefits in your lives by chanting together. You are in rhythm! 

What if you aren't sure what you want?

That's easy! 

Chant to know what you really want! 

Chant to discover what would make you happy. 

For years I chanted to understand, know and fulfill my mission in life. 

It worked!

Make Your Mighty Determinations!

Today!

Why not? 

It's your life!

What is a determination? 

It's a goal, and it's a call of your spirit. It's a paragraph that conveys what you really want. 

When Kathy was chanting for her job she had a deep determination. She determined that she was going to find her retirement job...the job she'd stay in until she retired. She determined it would have all the bells and whistles, great benefits, the hours she wanted, the income she wanted...vacation etc. She determined it would be a "home" for her, full of warm people who appreciate her. She determined that it would be a job that showed actual proof of the Gohonzon and that it would inspire others to chant to achieve their goals. She also determined that while she was unemployed she and her family would not suffer in any way. 

All of these determinations were realized! 


She had her first day at her new job on Monday. It was amazing. She immediately felt welcomed. SHe got there early with the other early people, and discovered they have one of those cool gourmet one-cup-at-a-time coffee makers. At her last job they didn't have any coffee at all, and she had to bring a carafe from home. I know that's the tip of the iceberg for her. I know that each day she will reveal another benefit of this job. Last night she was invited out to a celebratory dinner with her co-workers. On her first day her boss called her in and said that her position had been open for a long, long time...and they had chosen her very carefully!!

Isn't that awesome?

What is YOUR determination? 

Would you like to share it with us? 

Transforming Difficult Relationships

What do you do when you have a difficult relationship? Maybe there's a family member you don't get along with, maybe it is someone at work. What is the best course of action to take...well, if you are practicing Practical Buddhism the answer is an easy one. 

Chant for their happiness. 

Okay, I know, it's not really easy...but think of it as strengthening that spiritual muscle of compassion and making an excellent, wonderful, life changing and karma changing cause. Sit and think of that person with a huge smile on their face...a huge smile. And chant for their happiness, whether it is a sincere prayer or not. And do you know what will happen. Sooner or later it will turn into a sincere prayer. And you will have changed. And so will the other person!
Remember, you can't always feel it or see it, but all of life is interconnected. Chanting for someone else's happiness is as good as chanting for your own. Maybe even better!

Today I want to remind you that when you want to change a difficult relationship into a great one, determinations and chanting are important, but please remember that your everyday actions make a huge difference. 

If people come to you saying bad things about the person you are focusing on - you must not join the party of people speaking ill of that person! Your everyday actions, thoughts and words are ALL CAUSES that you are making. You want to focus on making good causes at all times. 

If you want to change a troubling relationship into a fabulous one, watch your actions, and refuse to join the folks who are badmouthing the person whose happiness you are chanting for so deeply. 

All of this is up to you. 

Your happiness rests on you doing your own human revolution. You may think that your chanting for the difficult person is about THEM. But NO! It is about your human revolution. It is about YOU creating the flow of energy that will attract only amazingly great things into your life! It is about you changing from the inside so that you can build a solid sense of self that will be strong and happy NO MATTER WHAT your circumstances!!! It is about YOU, and the other person...and YOU are leading the way for the happiness of all humanity. YOU are opening the door to happiness in your life, in the life of the "difficult" person, and in the happiness of us all because, as you know so well...we are all interconnected!!!

Encouragement for you!

The real thrill about being a Practical Buddhist and chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo every day is this:

Even when I don't get what I want...I get what I want. When I keep chanting, and keep focused...what I want is always on its way. The challenge is to not let my own doubt and negativity overshadow things.

Right now I am chanting with appreciation for my life, for being able to chant and for knowing, that NO MATTER WHAT I will be victorious is all areas of my life. I base my life on reading Daisaku Ikeda's writings, encouraging my fellow members and the readers of my blog. My entire life is tied to helping others be happy, and living as an example that NO MATTER WHAT, I will win in all aspects of my life.

Has everything "finished" in my life? No! And it never will! Am I enjoying the process along the way? YES! When you base your life on the mystic law it is possible to even enjoy your own sadness...because you see it for what it is...fuel for the fire of your Daimoku (chanting).

And because you can always turn poison into medicine...NOTHING will ever stop you.

I had a friend in Japan who always used to say "I love it when I get BIG PROBLEMS! Because I know that a BIG BENEFIT is on its way!"

He is so right! As long as you keep chanting, keep reading President Ikeda's guidance, and keep encouraging people...you can't lose.

And if you are at the beginning stage of chanting...just face the Gohonzon and pray about what you want. You deserve to be happy. Don't ever listen to the people who tell you that you don't deserve to be happy....you know you deserve happiness and you have ALWAYS known this. Tap into your life force of Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. Be fearless. Make your glorious life overflow with benefits!